Samsung shares rise nearly 5% as profit seen jumping 8-fold on AI chip boom
Shares of Samsung Electronics rose as much as 4.8% on Tuesday after the South Korean tech giant forecast record quarterly profits on strong demand for artificial intelligence chips. Shares later pared their gains, rising 0.52%.
In its preliminary earnings forecast, Samsung predicted operating profit for the January-March quarter would reach 57.2 trillion won ($37.8 billion), up more than eightfold from 6.69 trillion won a year earlier.
If that profit comes to fruition, it would represent a quarterly record (nearly three times the previous high) and surpass LSEG SmartEstimate estimates of 42.3 trillion won, which are weighted by analysts’ forecasts that are more consistently accurate.
Meanwhile, the company’s estimated consolidated revenue is estimated to rise nearly 70% from a year ago to 133 trillion Korean won.
Samsung’s optimistic guidance was likely driven by demand from its memory chip business, particularly for high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI computing.
Its Device Solutions division, which includes memory chips, accounted for 39% of Samsung’s revenues and 57% of its operating profit in 2025.
Demand for high-bandwidth memory chips increased so much last year that it triggered a shortage in the memory market and led to huge price and volume increases for memory manufacturers such as Samsung.
The results also reflect Samsung strengthening its position in high-bandwidth memory chips after giving up an early lead against South Korean rival SK Hynix.
The company is expected to report full earnings later this month.
